During the plenary session (13-16 September 2021) in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, MEPs debate on how to identify gender-based violence as a new area of crime listed in Article 83(1) TFEU. MEPs to call for gender-based violence to be classified as a crime under EU law to better protect victims, Parliament is set to call for online and offline gender-based violence to be included as a new area of crime in the EU treaties. Opening statements by Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE) and Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA, ES), rapporteurs, and by Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality. This transcription speech is the result of an automatic process. Check against delivery.

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

BJÖRK, Malin (The Left, SE)

violence against women (T)

RIBA I GINER, Diana (Greens/EFA, ES)

DALLI, Helena (MT, EC)

Identifying gender-based violence as a new area of crime: opening statements by Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA, ES), rapporteurs, and by Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Malin BJ&Ouml;RK (The Left, SE), Colleagues, one third of all women have experienced violence or sexual violence at some point, and this kind of sexual violence or gender based violence is actually a risk to our health and shortening lives.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), And in the social media as as well, there's a structural problem here, and that's one of the most serious crimes against human rights that we are facing. This assembly, the European Parliament, has been trying to enforce that.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), This legislation could be stopped. I, together with Miss Diana Riba, had an opportunity to draught a very strong position and set out specific ways to fight gender based violence. We are demanding that there be legislation at European level. It's not the first time we've asked for this, but nothing else will do criminal legislation and the legal side of things is only one part of the equation.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), We can note that the fight against gender based violence cannot be seen separately from the fight against equality. Fight for women's rights across society as a whole. Gender based violence is intimately linked to the patriarchal structures, the inequality between women and men, the lack of economic independence for women, and the lack of justice.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), In our report, we note that to combat gender based violence, we have to have the right to decide over our own bodies and our sexuality. We have to have access to free abortion and contraception. In our report, we also note that we have to make sure that all measures be taken to strengthen women's rights and to control over our lives.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), We have to have the right support service. We've noted that women's refuges, which are a pillar in the fight against gender based violence, should have permanent support. We've noted that the judiciary has to be far better than it has been today.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), If the judiciary can make sure that sentences are handed down, if we make sure that the guilt is placed at the door of those who are responsible, the perpetrators, that is essential. And the point of departure for all this should be consent.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), In our report, we also say that gender based violence affects LGBTIQ people and they have to be included when we're trying to fight gender based violence. We say loud and clear that any violence or threats against LGBTIQ people also stems from patriarchal approaches and structures about how we ought to be as people and those who goes against the hetero norm. Norms of society are threatened with violence.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), This form of violence has to be fought against and has to be fought against through the framework of gender based violence as well. Now, you might think that everybody would agree that nobody could be against this, that everybody wants to get involved, roll their sleeves up and fight this form of gender based violence.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), But there are some who aren't on board, some people who want to have control over women's lives and their bodies. Some people think it's OK to restrict our lives in this way. Sometimes they give a pretext for this, but basically they don't believe that this is sufficiently important.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), They're not going to win. Every piece of progress has been a fight for organisations, for our own survival. They're the ones who push this on together with parliamentarians, people who are allied to our cause. And that is the same today. I'd like to thank all those feminists who have ceaselessly fought the good fight to make sure that there's been action within parliaments as well.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), I hope we can adopt this report, send a clear signal to the Commission and together make sure that the EU is doing more and better and the member states are doing more and better because we're saying stop gender based violence.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA, ES), Thank you, President. I'd like to start my speech by expressing my thanks to the MEPs and the teams from the various groups who helped ensure that at this session, we in a position to take the vote on an ambitious, inclusive and above all, very necessary report.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA, ES), I think it's only right and proper to stress the constructive cooperation sort of attitude that held sway throughout the negotiations on a report which will chart the course to the eradication of sexist violence. This is a scourge that the United Nations has defined as a shadow pandemic when they are killing us for nothing more than the fact that we happen to be born women.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA, ES), I'm talking about the violence being suffered by our daughters, our sisters, our mothers and grandmothers of violence that we suffer ourselves in our streets, our homes and our workplaces. The figures are tragic. One in three women in the European Union has suffered physical or sexual violence.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA, ES), Half of us has undergone harassment and one in 20 has been raped. Behind these chilling figures, there are millions of names, millions of lives cut short to whom we as public servants owe a duty that we cannot avoid. I would call upon the house to be conscious of the juncture we find ourselves that we are facing a vote which may make history.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA, ES), We can and must make today the day when the majority in the European Parliament called for the inclusion of gender based violence on the list of Europe wide crimes. This, as you all know, would allow the European Union to have legal definitions, standards and minimum common criminal penalties across the whole territory of Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA, ES), And that for every type of gender based violence, not just gender based hate crimes, as sometimes proposed by the commission in its work programme, the commission's proposal is not enough if it doesn't include gender based offences in Article 83, it it's different from the commitment entered into by the president of the commission, Ms von der Leyen, when she was a candidate for that position, when she was defending that position that we are putting forward here today.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA, ES), We're not naive. We know some countries will be reluctant in the Council, but that can be no excuse to prevent us from doing our job here today. Working on our commitment to the well-being, safety, freedom and indeed happiness of the 50 percent of the population represented by us as women.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA, ES), Furthermore, amending Article 83 could provide a legal basis for the directive on gender based violence, which the commission has committed itself to adopting and which we will press to have done this very year without delay.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA, ES), Amending this article would ensure that the directive could not only act in the areas of prevention, support and training in line with the Istanbul convention, but also the directive would be able to go further than that, be far more holistic and ambitious, and it would also be able to address the criminal law aspects of gender based violence.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA, ES), Decisively, the union would have available to it more and better tools to fight one of the most serious violations of human rights that has ever existed in the history of humanity, who could oppose that goal apart from the far right. And we know that they won't support this report today.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA, ES), Quite frankly, we're not waiting for you to come on board. We don't expect to get a single vote from those who day after day show that they are only working to restrict the rights and freedoms which the women who came before us obtained by struggle. Today is a day to say to the far right that in the face of their intolerance and contempt for basic rights, they're going to face a majority in this house representing the Europe of the common good, freedom and solidarity. Thank you very much, everyone.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, Thank you, President. Honourable members of the European Parliament, thank you for your work on this report and in line with the president's political guidelines, we committed ourselves to launching a strategy for gender equality in the EU that would include the fight against gender based violence, as it is a widespread violation of fundamental rights and must be addressed on a common basis at the EU level.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, The Commission stands by its commitments. In the past two years, together with my fellow commissioners and under the lead of President von der Leyen, we adopted several Union of Equality strategies, including the EU Gender Equality Strategy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, In 2016, the Commission proposed the EU's accession to the Istanbul convention. And signed the convention in June of 2017. Since then, however, the accession remains blocked in Council. This is why, as the president stated this morning, we are presenting legislative measures.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, To achieve the objectives of the Istanbul convention within the limits of the EU competences, we will propose concrete measures by the end of this year, they will be composed of two initiatives. The first initiative is a broad directive on gender based violence and domestic violence with a focus on prevention, protection, support and access to justice.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, It will include the criminalisation of specific forms of gender based violence and domestic violence on the basis of the existing Euro crimes. The second initiative aims to trigger a Council decision to extend the list of crimes to include hate crime and hate speech. Of course, the Council will then need it will then need to decide by unanimity.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, If this is achieved, the Commission will be able to propose an EU level criminal criminalisation of hate crime on grounds of sexual and of sex and sexual orientation, amongst other grounds, with these two initiatives that will be adopted as a package by the end of this year. And we will achieve, to a large extent, the objectives pursued by the Parliament.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, Concretely, the directive on gender based violence will cover targeted criminalisation of specific conduct, such as, for instance, serious forms of online violence. It will therefore feel the most important gaps in member states' legislation and ensure that the most serious forms of gender based violence are criminalised in the EU.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, The proposal will include specific measures on prevention of violence, protection and support of victims, including, of course, the most vulnerable victims. It will address the intersection of sex with other grounds of anti-discrimination included in the treaties, in addition to that, the extension of the list of euro crimes will provide a new legal basis for provi proposing additional criminalisation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helena DALLI, European Commissioner for Equality, Once this new legal basis is established, we will be able to continue filling the gaps and the future in relation to criminalisation of misogynistic hate crime and hate speech. This package will deliver on your requests, it will allow for a swift action that should be adopted within the current mandate period. Let us not keep the victims waiting. Thank you.